So you went to the Lincoln-Reagan dinner and you wrote a check to the Republican Party.  You thought your money would be spent to defeat liberal Democrats, right?

Well, maybe not . . .

It seems the establishment GOP feels more threatened by the Tea Party and other conservative Republicans than by the liberal Democrats.

I first experienced this in the 2012 Montana governor’s campaign when our local Republican committee threw a wing-ding to endorse and support one of the seven Republican primary candidates – a year before the primary election!  I was stunned.   I thought the party is supposed to remain neutral while its candidates compete for the right to represent their party in the general election.  My conservative candidate, a straight-shooting Tea Party favorite and long-time loyal Montana Republican, started the primary race with his own party working against him.

This practice (using funds from Republican donors to defeat conservative Republican candidates) has accelerated this year across the country.  But the recent episode in Mississippi goes way over the top.

Senator Thad Cochran, an aging (some say senile) and ineffective member of the DC permanent ruling class, was about to be knocked out of the Mississippi GOP primary race by a young, aggressive Tea Party candidate, state senator Chris McDaniel.  Cochran had made almost no effort to campaign, assuming that his seat was safe from any challenge, as it had always been in the past.  After all, he had been “bringing home the bacon” for 36 years, right?

The Republican insiders realized that their boy was in trouble, and there was no time to waste.  GOP operative Henry Barbour (nephew of Haley Barbour, former RNC chairman) was sent on a scorched-earth mission to take out McDaniel in the last few weeks before the primary.  He shuffled funds between some PACs under his control and hired DEMOCRATS to convince black voters to cross over in the primary and vote for Cochran.

Here is where it gets really sickening.  Barbour used money from Republican donors to print posters, broadcast radio ads, and make telephone robo-calls all claiming that Republican candidate McDaniel and the Tea Party are racists who are trying to prevent black citizens from voting!  Barbour’s propaganda campaign further claimed that McDaniel and the Tea Party would do away with food stamps and other benefit programs and cut funding for education, especially black colleges.

One radio ad said, “A victory by tea party candidate Chris McDaniel is a loss for the state of Mississippi. It is a loss for public education. … It is a loss for the citizens of this state in a time of natural disaster, for our public universities and particularly our historically black universities. A victory for Chris McDaniel is a loss for the reputation of this state for race, for race relationships between blacks and whites and other ethnic groups. Mississippi can’t afford Chris McDaniel.”

It is unthinkable that Republican donor funds would be used to smear loyal conservative Republicans (and the Tea Party) as racists – to convince gullible Democrats to cross over and vote against a Republican primary candidate.  But it worked, and Cochran won the runoff election by a few thousand votes.  The election results are under scrutiny, with numerous complaints of illegal votes.

The Tea Party Patriots demanded the Republican National Committee censure Henry Barbour.  Their “white paper” study detailed the many illegal and immoral activities of the establishment Republicans.

At its summer conference in Chicago this week the RNC not only refused to read a censure resolution brought by the Missouri state committee, RNC chairman Reince Preibus doubled down, threatening Missouri GOP chairman Ed Martin with his position for even raising the issue.

Apparently the insider Republicans have no fear of losing conservative voters – they assume we will continue to spend our money, our effort, and our votes to elect anybody who does not have a “D” after his or her name.

So next time you pull out your checkbook to contribute to the battle against the ongoing Democrat decay of our nation, think twice.  You may be supporting Republicans without principles who will do or say anything to hold on to their gravy train.  Even race-baiting.

It’s time to do some serious disinfecting in the leadership of the Republican party.  It’s really starting to smell in there.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Ooh, that smell!
Can’t you smell that smell?
Ooh, that smell!
The smell of death surrounds you.

Lynyrd Skynyrd – That Smell

Guitar Heaven! – Skynrd’s “That Smell” live in Nashville 2003